Hidden
by Breathe365
Summary: 2002. Harry Potter has taken his godson Teddy Lupin with him into hiding. Their location was hidden. As were their identities. Everything was safe...So why did they one day wake up in 1976?


10 months, 2 weeks, 4 days and about 6 hours.

That was how long it had been since Harry Potter had set foot in England.

It was late May and Harry was sitting on the back porch of his home in Sanibel Island. He was atop the railing, looking out at the ocean a mere hundred yards away. He took a pull on his beer before setting it down beside him, letting out a loud sigh. The sun was just setting, giving the clear water and sky an orange glow.

Gazing around he took a moment to appreciate his and Teddy's home. It was decent sized, with three large bedrooms and four full baths. It was a white wood and a large porch wrapped around the entire two stories home. The house itself was nestled in the thickets of trees and brush that opened up to provide the backside of the house with a view of the Gulf of Mexico.

"Harry, I can't find my snorkel!"

He turned around, peering through the open double doors of the house to try and locate his godson. "Did you check the shed?"

A long silence followed and Harry chuckled, turning back to the ocean. "It's been almost a year, Ginny, going to offer me any advice now?" he murmured, still staring out at the waves.

The breeze picked up and Teddy's homemade wind chimes began to clink together, the broken glass he and Harry had scavenged from the beach shining their multiple colors in the lowering light. Harry jumped down from his perch and wiped his hands on his swim shorts. He had spent the day with Teddy in the water, teaching him to surf. It was a bit of a stretch for the five-year-old, but he had managed rather well, taking to it like he did flying.

After he safely secured all the surfboards in the shed, he called out for his godson, "Teddy!"

Bounding out of the back doors, Teddy appeared with a wide grin. He was an averaged sized five-year-old with a stunning sense of humor. However he took after his father in that he was quiet, only revealing his inner prankster when needed. Harry smiled down at him, noticing the faintest tinge of red on his shoulders.

"How on earth do you still get sunburn?" He questioned.

"How on earth do _you_ not get sunburn?"

Harry chuckled. They had both acquired deep tans in their time living on the island. Their accents were now the only give-away that showed their heritage.

"Sam!" Teddy shouted, following it up with a sharp whistle. A bark immediately returned the call and moments later a large yellow Labrador trotted around the house.

Harry gave the dog a scratch on the head before allowing her to take the lead as they walked from the grassy yard to the trail that broke apart the dunes. Just before they decide to call it a day, Harry always took Teddy and Sam for a walk around their property. For them, it was a fun ritual, for Harry, it was a chance to check up on all his wards. Harry had made sure he bought a large section of island. They were several miles away from the actual town and their entire property line was several acres, which was unusually large. However because they only had two neighbors with equally large pieces of land, Harry found it best to walk the entire section. It was at least a two mile walk all around, but they always made it back before the sun was completely gone.

"Did you find your snorkel?"

"Yes, I did. And I decided that tomorrow we should we should take the boat out. It's going to be perfect weather."

"Been sneaking on the weather channel, have you?"

"Maybe a few times while you were still out in the water."

"We'll discuss it over dinner. I figured we'd go to Jenny's for supper, yeah?"

"Perfect!" Teddy grinned, kicking a large chunk of driftwood that Sam immediately dove for, trotting ahead with it clamped in her jaw.

They walked in silence after that, with Teddy swiping up any shells that caught his eye and Harry occasionally waving his hand to test the strength of the wards. He couldn't remember the last time he had used his wand for magic. He did his best to avoid using any magic that wasn't for security purposes, but on some frustrated mornings when trying to see Teddy off to school, the occasional spell might have been shouted out to hasten the pace.

"Harry?" Teddy was several feet ahead and over the sound of the waves, Harry could barely hear him.

"Yeah, Ted?"

"How much longer are we staying here?"

Harry sighed, taking several leaps forward to scoop Ted up and rest him on his hip as he continued forward.

"I like it here a lot, but I miss Gran and Nev and Vic…I miss Ginny."

"You know, Teds, I really miss all of them too. A lot. And I also enjoy it here. But you know it's not safe in England."

"Then why couldn't everyone come with us?"

"It's safer this way. You know where they are. Your Gran's in Egypt staying with the Longbottoms. Vic is with her family in Marseilles. Grandma and Grandad Weasley are in Australia. Ron and Hermione are there too. And we came here to Florida."

"But why couldn't we have just stayed together? Why did the bad men have to take Ginny?"

Harry smiled sadly at him. He was a bright boy, just like his parents. But it wasn't an easy task to explain everything that had happened to a five-year-old, no matter how smart he was. The truth was that everyone had gone into hiding, just like during the war, only to be even safer, everyone split up around the globe.

"Sometimes bad people do bad things. That's just what makes them bad. One day we'll all be back together again, I promise." He took a deep breath. "Now, change your hair to normal, we're about to pass Mrs. Smith's house. Can't have her thinking I dyed your hair green. She'd call the cops saying you're a mistreated child."

***

The next morning Harry was woken up by the Sea Gulls and the breaking of the ocean waves. He rolled over in bed, groaning, to get a view of the ocean. The master bedroom was spacious with an incredible bathroom, but it was the glass doors and deck that made it so appealing to Harry. He left the doors wide open anytime he was home, even at night, letting in the salty air and sunshine.

The whole house worked like that, with wide open windows everywhere. Harry turned on the heat for maybe two weeks out of the year just after Christmas and he had only used the air conditioning once when the breezes were nonexistent for some reason. He ripped back the sheet he was tangled in and found a pair of khaki shorts abandoned n the floor. Pulling them on, he smelled coffee…with cinnamon and vanilla.

With a wide grin, Harry marched out of his room and down the stairs. In the kitchen a bright eyed woman was sitting at the island, on one side of her was Teddy behind a large plate of syrup covered waffles and on the other, a newspaper with a mug of coffee and a plate of fruit and eggs.

"Jenny, you spoil us." Harry planted a kiss on her head before he dove for the coffee.

"Well, I never see my own grandchildren, so I have to compensate somewhere." She ruffled Teddy's sandy brown hair before standing up. "I have Tai Chi in twenty minutes, so I'll be seeing you all for dinner next week?"

"You'll probably break in and serve us breakfast at least twice before then, Jen." Harry smiled.

"Be safe, boys, and Harry put on a shirt, that boy is going to want tattoos like that when he grows up." She pointed a warning finger at him before smiling affectionately at Teddy and strutting from the kitchen.

"It's okay, Harry, I don't want tattoos."

"Good, because five-year-olds shouldn't."

Harry glanced down at some of them. On his left side, he had marauder shaded in large, black gothic letters, running down vertically from below his armpit to his hip. On his left wrist, Teddy was written in neat cursive, something he had done on Ted's first birthday. On his back left shoulder, in shades of gray and black, was a scene with a lion and a snake, a sword between them. His right arm, from his shoulder to a few inches away from his elbow, a pair of wolves sat howling at a full moon, above the dark scene the phrase "Mischief Managed". The final tattoo had been on his right wrist, a small golden snitch. Of all his tattoos, this had been the only one he had gotten out of pure fun; he had in fact been out drinking with George when he came home with it.

"Ready to head out, Ted?"

Teddy nodded, jumping from his stool and carrying his sticky plate to the sink where Harry rinsed it quickly before dropping it in the dish washer. "I'll get Sam's bag," Teddy said, marching out of the kitchen.

Harry gathered a few dry towels and did a once over on the house. He needed to vacuum some of the sand that had collected on the wood floors, but that was something that could wait until tomorrow when Ted was in school. He packed a small cooler of beer, water and juice along with a few treats for Sam and snacks for Teddy.

"Can I change my hair today?"

His hair was fire engine red and his eyes were baby blue, one of his favorites. His hair was thick yet short like Harry's, sticking out in every direction.

"Sure, bud. Go and put this on the boat while I get the fishing stuff out of the shed."

The shed was barely noticeable until one was about ten feet away; it was in a shroud of trees and plants that hid it perfectly. It was large and filled with surfboards, fishing poles, and everything else related to the outdoors. A trunk in the back corner was magically expanded and hid Harry and Teddy's stash of broomsticks and Quidditch supplies.

"Harry!"

Harry knew all of Teddy's calls, which were panic and which were shock. This one was shock. Scooping up the poles and tackle box, he locked up the shed and came back around the house, going through the boardwalk path that led to their dock. Once Harry emerged from the trees he saw Teddy and Sam standing on the dock staring up at the single black cloud above them.

"What happened to perfect weather?" He stepped into the boat and placed the tackle and fishing poles in their appropriate locations.

Sam began barking up at the cloud and Teddy's mouth hung agape. Harry felt himself look up at the cloud as well. Magic. He could feel it radiating off the cloud and he knew Teddy and Sam sensed it as well. He picked up Ted, resting him on his hip like always and he took a grasp on Sam's choke chain.

"Teddy, have you been doing magic?" Harry asked softly.

"No."

"Where's Hermione when you need her…" Harry murmured just as a single flash of lightning shot out and a loud clap of thunder surrounded him in darkness.


End file.
